Let's Talk: How to Have Better Conversations

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I really can’t do this book justice in the review; it’s packed to the brim with such fascinating insights; we are lucky to have a fly-on-the-wall perspective of the conversations that would have happened to generate the content. The beginning of the book, with its history of how societies perceived conversation, was interesting enough to me to raise this to a 3* review. He currently presents the daily afternoon show on BBC 5 Live and the official Penguin Books podcast.

Nihal Arthanyake has done a wonderful job of telling us how wonderful conversations by bringing people who need to communicate on. First, the knowledge of who we are – the change in roles in a conversation based on the situation -, then understanding who we are talking to, and the confidence and comfort to challenge as well as defend your perspective with information. Nihal has a brilliant way of using his voice as a facilitator to help you learn from the experiences of others in a way that are understandable and compelling. As an audiobook format listening to the ‘guests’ and hear their take on how to have good conversations was great but I would’ve like more specific mechanics to learn from. There are times, in a workplace, which means this needs preparation before you start the pre-planned conversation.I picked this up because I wanted to learn 'how to have better conversations' as the tag line of the book suggests I would.

This book was on my to-read list the minute I heard it was due to be published in the summer of 2022. The most valuable conversations themselves are spaces where the participants give over a part of themselves to each other to explore, illuminate and connect" Nihal makes communication natual and accessible to all.

She previously worked as The Guardian's women's editor, a features commissioning editor on g2 and as a reporter for the Sunday paper, The Observer.

To say I’m slightly addicted to listening to his voice through his Radio 5 Live show is downplaying it.In my opinion it could be improved with some key takeaways or action points at the end of each chapter, making it more of a self-help book for every day conversations.

To read him is to get a lesson from a master practitioner of the art -- Anita Anand, author of The Patient Assassin You may also be interested in. When you see a true master of verbal communication, remember that these are learned behaviours, not something innate which you are either born with or not. Nihal interviews a range of people for whom communication is a key part of their life and business, whilst blending in some of his own stories and experiences along the way, to highlight his key recommendations for the importance of open and varied communication, and how we need to improve in ‘the art of conversation’. In the post-covid world where you are more likely to converse over social media, Teams or chat apps we are losing the art of conversation, Nihal argues.

In August 2022 he came to Intelligence Squared to discuss his new book Let’s Talk, which explores the evolution of dialogue and the science behind stimulating conversation. As an essential part of my day job as a coach is having better conversations, I was intrigued by what I would uncover when I read “Let’s Talk (How to Have Better Conversations)*. I found the chapter on The Mechanics of Conversation fascinating; it highlighted how our stress response and the physiological markers change between different types of communication – nothing beats hearing a person’s voice when you communicate! Nihal’s writing is engaging as his interviews, bringing us a book that covers a range of topics including The Evolution of Communication, The Mechanics of Communication.